Gawker Media: No Time For Subtlety In A Troubled Economy

It can’t be a coincidence that in the last week Gawker Media properties have blatantly stolen the titles and ideas proposed in two articles that appeared on my web properties early this year. And surely it’s not a coincidence that both of those articles appeared on the front page of Digg.

You see, I can’t help but think that Gawker Media has clearly instructed it’s writers to go into the backlogs of successful front page Digg stories, and to start copying concepts.

To be honest, this is not a new thing. Everyone studies the backlogs of Digg to learn and adapt. However, what is new is the blatant copying of titles and concepts that Gawker seems to be using:

Compare:

http://www.ridelust.com/10-cars-that-are-guaranteed-to-get-you-laid-on-a-budget/
http://jalopnik.com/5139493/the-top-11-cars-of-2009-most-likely-to-get-you-laid

and

http://www.businesspundit.com/give-windows-7-away-for-free
http://gizmodo.com/5141443/why-microsoft-should-give-windows-7-away

Now, if it happened to me twice in one week, I can only infer that it’s the new Gawker strategy: no time for subtlety in a bad economy.

3 thoughts on “Gawker Media: No Time For Subtlety In A Troubled Economy

  1. Uhhhh, Holly, I wasn’t making any copyright claims. And your “get over it” comment implies that there is something to get over. I’m merely pointing to the fact that people act differently in depressed economic times.

    Perhaps you need to get over your tendency of reading more into the author’s words than are actually there.

  2. …only on your “unique expression” of them. So if they lifted whole articles, or even complete passages from them, you’d have a legitimate gripe (maybe), but if it’s just titles and “concepts,” be flattered they got it from your blog, and get over it. (Ref: http://www.copyright.gov )

  3. Does that come under copyright laws? I believe there is no copyright on concepts/ideas. However, if the article structure and words are copied, can bloggers take any legal action?

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